The present invention relates to an automatically fastening seatbelt assembly which is automatically applied to a vehicle occupant, to hold the occupant to a seat in the vehicle by a shoulder restraining webbing after the occupant is positioned on the seat in the vehicle. The seatbelt assembly includes a guide rail, a slider which is displaceable along the guide rail, the shoulder restraining webbing which is fixed to the slider at one end thereof, a buckle member which is located beside a seat and a manually operated lap restraining webbing. The shoulder restraining webbing automatically holds the occupant to the seat, while the lap restraining webbing is manually engaged to hold the lap of the occupant to the seat. More particularly, the present invention relates to improvements in an automatic releasing means for releasing an occupant from the restraint of the shoulder and lap restraining webbings.
A conventional automatically fastening seatbelt assembly is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,343,489. This patent discloses a seatbelt system which includes a guide rail having a longitudinal guide groove therein. The guide rail is fixed on a roof side member of a vehicle, and a slider slides within the guide groove and is displaceable along the guide rail. Further, a shoulder restraining webbing is fixed to the slider at one end thereof. A retractor member is located beside a seat in a vehicle. The other end of the restraining webbing is wound up in the retractor member.
Accordingly, the shoulder restraining webbing crosses the occupant's chest diagonally to hold the occupant to the seat.
Another conventional seatbelt assembly is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model application Laid-Open Sho No. 58-64358. This patent discloses a seatbelt fastening mechanism which includes a buckle member and a restraining webbing. The restraining webbing further includes an engagement plate. The buckle member includes a locking plate, a release member, and an actuator. In an engagement condition, the engagement plate of the restraining webbing engages the locking plate of the buckle member. On the other hand, in a disengagement condition, the engagement plate is released from the locking plate by automatic operation of the actuator and the release member of the buckle member.
However, this seatbelt fastening mechanism does not relate to the automatic fastening seatbelt assembly, so that the seatbelt fastening mechanism releases the engagement plate from the buckle member independently of the automatically fastening seatbelt assembly.